It’s Entertainment, Not Politics
Rush is not a political leader or expert and more important than that, he doesn’t really care about the issues. If it wasn’t for the First Amendment, his inflammatory bullshit would be silenced.
He is an entertainer and his shtick is conservative politics. The crap that spews from his mouth is entertainment, no more, no less.
He used to be a DJ. Somewhere along the way, he realized he could get more listener reaction and better ratings by talking. His views probably are genuinely conservative, like approximately half the adult population, but there is no evidence that he really cares about the issues. Conservative indignation happens to be a lot more fun to listen to on the radio than liberal pontification, so his brand of entertainment has a larger and more vocal audience than someone like Randi Rhodes, a liberal talk show host who used to work for the left-leaning Air America network.
People talk about Rush. I’m doing it here, although I’d prefer to ignore saying anything about him with the same enthusiasm that I ignore his radio show. But his pompous ramblings got a lot of attention on TV news last weekend, so it is hard to ignore him.
He recently said that he hopes President Obama fails. That’s pretty damn un-American, isn’t it? Why would anyone want the President of the United States to fail? If the President fails, doesn’t that imply that the country fails? President Bush failed for seven of his eight years and look at the mess we’re in now. I don’t hear Rush blaming Bush for anything.
Fortunately some leading conservative Republicans like Michael Steele and Eric Cantor are publicly distancing themselves from him. While Rush may speak for a lot of people, don’t confuse him for a leader. Don’t look at his spoken opinions as representative of the majority of conservatives or the majority of Republicans. He speaks to get a reaction and his goal is to increase ratings on his show. Higher ratings lead to higher salary. With his reported $33 million annual compensation, there is no economic downturn at his house.
It’s just entertainment. Take it too seriously and it becomes dangerous entertainment.
He is an entertainer and his shtick is conservative politics. The crap that spews from his mouth is entertainment, no more, no less.
He used to be a DJ. Somewhere along the way, he realized he could get more listener reaction and better ratings by talking. His views probably are genuinely conservative, like approximately half the adult population, but there is no evidence that he really cares about the issues. Conservative indignation happens to be a lot more fun to listen to on the radio than liberal pontification, so his brand of entertainment has a larger and more vocal audience than someone like Randi Rhodes, a liberal talk show host who used to work for the left-leaning Air America network.
People talk about Rush. I’m doing it here, although I’d prefer to ignore saying anything about him with the same enthusiasm that I ignore his radio show. But his pompous ramblings got a lot of attention on TV news last weekend, so it is hard to ignore him.
He recently said that he hopes President Obama fails. That’s pretty damn un-American, isn’t it? Why would anyone want the President of the United States to fail? If the President fails, doesn’t that imply that the country fails? President Bush failed for seven of his eight years and look at the mess we’re in now. I don’t hear Rush blaming Bush for anything.
Fortunately some leading conservative Republicans like Michael Steele and Eric Cantor are publicly distancing themselves from him. While Rush may speak for a lot of people, don’t confuse him for a leader. Don’t look at his spoken opinions as representative of the majority of conservatives or the majority of Republicans. He speaks to get a reaction and his goal is to increase ratings on his show. Higher ratings lead to higher salary. With his reported $33 million annual compensation, there is no economic downturn at his house.
It’s just entertainment. Take it too seriously and it becomes dangerous entertainment.
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